How Do We Develop Self-Actualization as Described by Abraham Maslow

I received a comment from someone who read my newsletter, challenging my statement that releasing stress is the path to self-actualization.

We all have the potential to be self-actualized, and what blocks our ability to know that is the stress that gets built up in our nervous systems. The nervous system is the communication system within the mind and body. It carries all the information or messages from the mind to all parts of the body and returns messages from all parts of the body to the mind. Everything we do, say, think or take in through any of the senses creates a demand on the nervous system. When we make more demands on the nervous system than it can handle it simply stores it away to handle when it can. Like many of us do with our paperwork.

Over time this stress gets built up and the nervous system becomes less and less capable of doing its job. This malfunction shows up first in our perception. We are simply unable to see things clearly, therefore we make mistakes and bad choices. If we do not release this stress it begins to show up in other ways. We lose our ability to see possibilities, we become less and less caring and life takes on a sort of mechanical feel. This is the beginning of the end of many relationships. When we are overstressed we become less and less interested in other’s opinions and we sure do not want to hear about their needs.

Continually overstressing our nervous system starts a downward spiral, which ends up creating an unhappy life, destroying our health and usually an early death.

But there is hope. Many years ago when I was feeling stressed, I discovered a process for releasing stress which allows the nervous system to heal itself. I also discovered that by continuing to work with this process on a daily basis the nervous system becomes stronger and in time automatically moves one into a much more advanced level of functioning. This more advanced level of functioning is what Abraham Maslow calls self-actualization.

Maslow found in his study of self-actualized people that they were the healthiest people in our society. They were also the happiest. He said they were highly intuitive and had discovered the ability to fulfill their needs and desires from within themselves.

It is the condition of our nervous systems that allows us to discover abilities that lie dormant within all of us until we become healthy enough to activate them. This is what we are now calling right brain abilities, such as creativity, intuition, the ability to see the big picture, understand complex systems, and see and understand laws of nature or principles of life that govern how we create our own experiences.

This is what Unlimited Futures is all about. We provide programs for the development of human potential. If you are feeling stressed, and are interested in reversing a downward spiral and discovering how to create a healthy, happy, fulfilling life for yourself you can start by reading my book Unlimited Futures: How to Understand the Life You Have and Create the Life You Want.It clearly describes a process for releasing stress and moving into a much happier place. We also provide other tools and courses to help you along the way.